Tim Dolan - This Guy's Garage

Tim DolanLos Angeles, CA
We got a lot of positive feedback from people who could relate to Editor Glad's column in the Oct. '09 issue dealing with having to work on your car in less-than-ideal locations. We received a flurry of pictures depicting carport and shanty-town-style lean-tos all housing readers' current projects. We must've struck a nerve. We'll continue the theme with Tim's garage, though we're not sure you could even call it a garage. The door opening didn't look wide enough to swallow his '69 Buick LeSabre. Garage is a relative term in Los Angeles and usually refers to an oddly shaped structure such as this-one that really only lends itself to storing crap you don't want to keep in your apartment. Believe it or not, however, Tim built the 500hp 455 for his Skylark in here. He's also currently putting together a Turbo 400 to go behind it. Let's take a peek.

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A. A Buick 350 now rests in Tim's engine bay, marking time until he wants to put the 455 back in it. Tim says he's taking this opportunity to work on getting his launch consistent with an engine that doesn't hit as hard off the line.

B. This is the 455 that was in Tim's '69 Skylark when we ran the article on it in the Aug. '09 issue. Tim pulled it in anticipation of buying another '69 'Lark he wanted to build as a bracket car. He's since scrapped those plans after considering the logistics of parking another car, plus the requisite truck and trailer, on the streets surrounding his rental unit. Instead, he's planning to put the mighty 455 back into the Buick once he's done building a TH400.

C. That's the landlord's stuff in the loft, too. "I'm lucky to even have access to the garage-it wasn't part of the lease. I worked out a deal with the landlord where I would do some landscaping in exchange for use of the garage." Sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil.

D. By day, Tim is a photographer, so the other shelves behind the stack of burnout tires are full of props, stands, and lighting grips. He keeps the expensive stuff inside the house.

E. "That's my landlord's toolbox. I try to get by with hardly any tools," Tim says, joking about rebuilding a rearend with a butter knife. We think this may not be too far from reality, though.

F. This TH350 was the original transmission in Tim's Skylark. When he yanked the 455, it came along for the ride. A TH200 4R took its place, and Tim's eardrums and wallet appreciate lower revs on the freeway.

G. This is the front end of Tim's Skylark. Where's the rest of the car? Conveniently, we already did a feature on it. Grab your Aug. '09 issue and flip to page 80. (Cliffs Notes version: looks like hell, pulls the wheels at the track.)